Vodafone Japan to focus on young

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The Japanese unit of British mobile giant Vodafone says it will
try to gear itself to young, high-tech savvy people, admitting it
has yet to develop a customer niche in the cut-throat market.

Bill Morrow, president of Japanese unit Vodafone K.K., said the
"young active segment" among Japanese customers was the firm's
"primary target."

"This is going to range between 17 years old up to the high 20s
- people who really want to be in a fun stage of their lives, that
want to build social communities and a circle of friends and stay
connected still to their families," he said.

Mr Morrow said young customers were more willing to pay for more
advanced products and Vodafone would invest as much as its
competitors in 3G technology, which offers services such as
high-speed internet connections.

"We are still in a severe position even though the number of
subscribers in June increased for the first time in six months,"
said Shiro Tsuda, chairman and chief executive officer of Vodafone
K.K.

"In the past, we not only failed to meet customer needs but also
failed to cooperate with business partners such as content
providers," said Tsuda, a former senior executive vice president at
Japan's biggest mobile operator NTT DoCoMo.

The total number of subscribers of Vodafone K.K. in June
increased by 5300 but after five consecutive monthly drops, the
total number fell to 14,966,600 at end-June from 15,211,000 in
December last year.

For the financial year to March 2005, Vodafone K.K.'s operating
profit fell 14.6 per cent to ¥158 billion ($A1.89 billion) on
sales which were down 11.2 per cent to ¥1.47 trillion.